Steve Jobs killed music: Bon Jovi

Steve Jobs is personally responsible for the decline of the music industry, according to soft-rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who accused the Apple CEO of killing music in an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine.

Bon Jovi lamented the fact that kids these days don’t get the ‘magical’ experience of buying an LP:

“Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it.”

The advent of the 99-cent download, he continues, has forced record shops to close their doors and put record execs out into the streets, marking the downfall of the music industry all together.

“I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’

Bon Jovi knows exactly what happened:

“Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.”

And what? Music pirating didn’t have anything to do with that either?
Personally responsible? Give me a break.
The iTunes store has definitely changed the way people purchase music, whether it’s a good or bad thing still remains to be seen..

If that’s the case, then Henry Ford is responsible for killing horse-drawn travel; the Wright Brothers for making walking ‘uncool’; Alexander Graham-Bell for stopping people from writing letters, etc. etc.

Hard to know what Bon Jovi has been on, or for how long but he seems to be totally ignorant of the fact the LP vanished from the scene long before the iPod and iTunes store. It’s actually the CD that is facing extinction.

However, I am filled with immeasurable sadness at the thought of all those record execs out on the street. And candle makers, swordsmiths and other dinosaurs before them.

LP? Where has JBJ been? I looove the LP for the great spread it offers for artwork – ever seen any decent looking cd covers? – but the cd killed the LP a long time ago. Apple had nothing to do with that decline. And I wonder how many indie bands complain that itunes is killing the industry?

It says more about JBJ than anything else. He does sound like an old man, “When I was a boy …”
Just because you interpret an experience in a certain way doesn’t mean it will be the same for others. He’s reminiscing about what he enjoyed when he was younger which is fine. You need to take care when projecting those experiences onto others though.

Apparently we jumped straight from buying an LP to downloading from the iTunes store… Jon appears to have missed a few decades after the LP with cassete tapes and CDs.
Also… has Jon seen an iPod? last I checked you still plug in your headphones, only now you can listen (and purchase) anywhere you like! Which I believe leads to people purchasing more music!! I know I buy a lot more music since the iTunes store came along.

99cents a song times tens of billions of downloads adds up to a lot or revenue for artists. Bringing down the price discourages piracy. What else can you buy for 99cents that gives you x minutes of enjoyment.

Apple didn’t invent music digitisation, or the first digital music player, nor the first digital download store. So what the hell is JBJ on about?! Clearly JBJ is feeling though he is missing out on something.

I do believe Mr JBJs music & video clips, audio books etc etc is on iTunes. You can still buy LPs & CDs and have that wonderful experience of listening to the music at home and if you still have one, on your discman ( Walkman). As for the music execs, they’re smart, they’ll find another top$ job.